@article{WeckNagelHoeflingetal.2017, author = {Weck, Florian and Nagel, Laura Carlotta and Hoefling, Volkmar and Neng, Julia M. B.}, title = {Cognitive Therapy and Exposure Therapy for Hypochondriasis (Health Anxiety): A 3-Year Naturalistic Follow-Up}, series = {Journal of consulting and clinical psychology}, volume = {85}, journal = {Journal of consulting and clinical psychology}, publisher = {American Psychological Association}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0022-006X}, doi = {10.1037/ccp0000239}, pages = {1012 -- 1017}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Objective: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in treating hypochondriasis. However, there are doubts regarding the long-term effectiveness of CBT for hypochondriasis, in particular for follow-up periods longer than 1 year. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of cognitive therapy (CT) and exposure therapy (ET) for the treatment of hypochondriasis. Method: Seventy-five patients with a diagnosis of hypochondriasis who were previously treated with CT or ET were contacted 3 years after treatment. Fifty (67\%) patients participated and were interviewed by an independent and blinded diagnostician using standardized interviews. Results: We found further improvements after therapy in primary outcome measures (d = .37), general functioning (d = .38), and reduced doctor visits (d = .30) during the naturalistic follow-up period. At the 3-year follow-up, 72\% of the patients no longer fulfilled the diagnosis of hypochondriasis. Based on the main outcome measure, we found response rates of 76\% and remission rates of 68\%. At follow-up, only 4\% of patients were taking antidepressant medication. Additional psychological treatment was utilized by 18\% of the patients during the follow-up period (only 8\% because of health anxiety). We found no overall differences between CT and ET. Only a trend for a greater deterioration rate in CT (13\%) in comparison to ET (0\%) was found. Conclusions: Our results suggest that 2/3 of the patients with hypochondriasis were remitted in the long term. Thus, remission rates after CBT were twice as high as in untreated samples.}, language = {en} }